Collegiate regrets

My college career so far has spanned two years, two schools, two different majors, and more headaches than I can care to count.

Part of me wishes that I could hit a giant rewind button to skip back to 2009 and actually register to take my SATs. Maybe then, I would actually have the experience of applying to colleges like many of my friends at the time. I guess I was more intrigued with getting that free pen for enrolling at Hudson Valley.

Alas, we have no such button and we are forced to live with the choices, or lack there of, that we make.

I started at Hudson Valley in August of 2011, to me, it just felt just like high school with a crazy schedule. I spent most of my time with my old high school friends, drove back to my old home at the end of classes, and went to my old job at night. It just felt boring at first. I kept thinking to myself, what if?

I felt like I missed out on an experience. Packing my bags and moving into a cramped dorm room, eating Lucky Charms right out of the box while drinking a warm Mountain Dew Code Red, you know, real college stuff.

I always thought not taking some time to go away and have the “college experience” would be my biggest regret. However, over the past semester, I’ve learned, I really have no regrets for the choices I’ve made so far.

After finding my place in the college world, I have been able to open my self up to some new opportunities right from home. Finding time to practice my videography and photography, spending time learning the ways of firefighting and emergency medical training, and being able to spend time with my family and friends.

Community college has given me the ability to take risks. Taking some interesting classes, switching majors, try some new clubs, oh, and there’s the occasional skipped class here and there to just play hooky with some friends. As much as I’ve hated on Hudson Valley over the last couple years, its been pretty good to me. I know, its not for everyone but, I feel its an underrated option with a stigma it just can’t shake. As I enter my last semester at Hudson Valley this fall, I know it has put me on the right track for what I want to accomplish. It took a little longer than I wanted it to but, I’m getting there, and thats all that matters. There’s no way I can ever regret that.

So, for right now, I guess I’m content without having the same college adventures like many of my peers. If I want to pretend for a little while, I guess I can go eat some of those Lucky Charms inside a closet or something, and I can do that all without the roughly 22,000 a year price tag.

3 Responses

Great post! I also went to HVCC and then transferred. I was not looking forward to it at all but was pleasantly surprised by the great professors and activities the school offered. It’s also, like you said, a great way to save money.

I wish more people would reflect like you did. So many people complain about their school or college. If they were to look back and consider using the rewind button, would that have changed anything they did? Probably not. I only applied to one university and spent the last nine years of my life there. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Could be worse, you could have been so clueless that you ended up going to a non-university, like Bob Jones University, Liberty University, or Oral Robert’s University (using the term “university” all three times, in its most charitable application”), and ended up with a transcript that would have most of your job applications going straight into the circular file.

Note: The Times Union is not responsible for posts and comments written by non-staff members.

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